SISTER JOSEPHINE O’ CALLAGHAN
Sr. Josephine O’ Callaghan was born, to use her own words, ‘into a loving, caring and musical family.’ She was a twin, twenty minutes younger than her sister, Marie Therese. They came second in their family, having one older and two younger brothers. At the age of thirteen, the twins left home to finish their education at our Juniorate in Hastings, England. They entered the Novitiate in 1951.
For a number of years after First Profession in 1954, Josephine was engaged mainly in cooking, and working as a portress. She was good at everything she did, and had a happy, generous, and humorous disposition; she loved telling jokes. In Beech Court, she took charge of the boarders, not an easy task, but she had a way with young people, which became even more apparent, when she trained as a nursery teacher in 1969. One Inspector remarked that she would have made a good teacher of the deaf, because of her particular tone of voice; she was also good with children who suffered from disabilities.
Josephine taught in Deal, Beech Court, and Chew Magna. She loved the latter school particularly, where she often spoke of teaching next door to Sr. Elizabeth Hartigan, whom she said was a good help to her. Josephine was a very good teacher, who got on well with pupils, teachers and parents. For many years during school holidays, she helped with the sick and elderly sisters in Hastings. When she retired from teaching, she spent a few years working with the homeless in the Passage, London, an experience she really enjoyed and said she would not want to have missed. It made her thank God for her good health, energy, and His care of her over the years. From 1995/97 she worked as a parish sister in a Mother and Baby unit in Kirby, Liverpool and in Headingly in Leeds with Children in Care. The latter unit had been known as the ‘Crusade of Rescue’, but was now renamed as ‘Leeds Catholic Care.’ There she was ‘Senior House Mother’, and showed the same dedication, generosity and care, which were her hallmarks. Josephine could turn her hand to anything. She was an all-rounder. When needed she helped to clear houses that were closing. She responded to a call from the Vincentian Fathers in Damascus House, near London, to work there as a housekeeper and cook, for some time; she enjoyed her work with the Priests and said they were very good to her. In general, she had a special gift in being able to help and care for priests.
Josephine spent a short spell in Dundalk, Ireland, but felt there was not enough work there for someone as active as herself, so she moved to the Falls Rd. Belfast, in 2011. She spent her days visiting the sick and housebound and bringing them Holy Communion. Josephine loved meeting people, listening to their stories, and filling them in, on her own experiences from previous placements. She was a wonderful storyteller, especially at recalling anecdotes from her teaching days. She had many friends, because she had the ability to enter into the lives of those she met on the street, without interfering. When Belfast closed on August 15th, 2014, Josephine was missioned to Notre Dame Convent, Churchtown, where she gave invaluable help in collecting prescriptions and medicines for the sisters and posting their letters. Previously, Josephine had successfully organised the moving of furniture from our old house to the new. She was a cheerful and generous member of the Community.
Her decline in health was imperceptible, even to herself, until about the last six weeks of her life. She never complained of pain and maintained that she had none. However, dinner was exchanged for bowls of soup and after a few visits to the doctor, it became clear that there was something radically wrong with Josephine. In the hospital, it was discovered that she had a large inoperable growth, ovarian cancer, the silent killer. It was arranged that she would go to the Hospice at Harold’s Cross, but God had a different plan for her. Sadly, Josephine died the previous day on the 29th April, 2020, at St Vincent’s Hospital, R.I.P. She had completed her full and active life’s journey.
Due to Coved 19 and Government regulations, her funeral was private. On May 1st, the hearse drove into the convent grounds, where Sr. Elizabeth Hartigan led the Community in prayer, to say our final earthly farewell to someone we loved and will dearly miss in community. Josephine’s twin sister, Marie Therese, was unable to attend, being in lock down in her own community in Longford, but of course she was with her in spirit and prayer. Both she and Josephine had enjoyed many happy holidays and retreats together, in the course of the years, Knock Shrine being their favourite place of worship. It was a great shock for Marie Therese to lose her sister, Josephine, so suddenly without much warning and no physical contact with her for months, due to the virus.
A few sisters, including our young students, followed the hearse to Mount Venus Cemetery, where more prayers were led by Sr. Elizabeth Hartigan and the Sisters and the Salve Regina sung. Sr. Josephine was the first to be buried in one of our new graves, to await the Day of Resurrection.
May she Rest in Peace.
“Life is a journey we all must take;
And each must go alone,
It’s all a part of the Master’s plan;
A step on the road to home”
(C. Rossetti)